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The third benefit is that this study provides activities to English Language teaching. By employing the excerpts of the short stories, one can create
materials to teach students in the advanced level because the excerpts provide authentic materials.
E. Definition of terms
1. Perception
Perception refers to “the way you notice things, especially with senses”. Oxford Advanced Learner’ Dictionary 986. Whereas according to Lindsay
and Norman as re-quoted from www.sapdesignguild.org say “Perception is the process by which organisms interpret and organize sensation to produce a
meaningful experience of the world” “Introduction to Perception: Definition of Perception”. This study discusses Poe’s perception of death. Hence it
means his point of view of death based on his three short stories: The Mask of
the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado. 2.
Death
Death refers to the end of life. It is stated when the being organs are not functioned to support the life system. However, “death” may be the meaning
beyond that Warga 583. He says that there are actually three kinds of death. They are: physical death, sociological death, and psychological death.
Whereas Aiken in Dying and Death, Bereavement says, “This definition is closest in meaning to biological death, the irreversible breakdown of the
respiration in an organism and the consequent loss of the ability to use
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oxygen” 6. In this study, death is the physical death, the state when the being organs are not functioned to support the life system of the characters in the
stories. Death in this study also refers to the death of people in Edgar Allan Poe’s life.
3. Short story
Short story is a literary genre of fictional prose narrative that tends to be more concise and to the point than longer works of fiction such as novellas in
the modern sense of the term and novels “Short Story”. Whereas taken from Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, short story is:
“Brief fictional prose narrative. It usually presents a single significant episode or scene involving a limited number of characters. The form
encourages economy of setting and concise narration; character is disclosed in action and dramatic encounter but seldom fully developed.
A short story may concentrate on the creation of mood rather than the telling of a story.” “short story”
In this study, the writer would focus on three short stories by Edgar Allan Poe: The Mask of the Red Death, Ligeia, and The Cask of Amontillado.
